TORn IGG page assets-13We have many supporters who are not able to attend the party, but have chosen to make a pledge to help make this party happen. And for that, we are deeply honored and grateful. Please continue to spread the word amongst your family and friends so that we can all make a proper send off to Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth cycle of films.

For the rest of you, we have a party to plan, and you have travel arrangements to make, unless you are a local. Oscar weekend in Hollywood can be a bit stressful and expensive, so here are a few suggestions to make things easy for you.

First off, as of the date of this update, we don’t have the venue locked in simply because we need a funded budget in order to put the deposit down on the venue. That being said, the venues being looked at are very near each other and very near several hotels, so there is a hotel list coming up shortly.

Secondly, while it is recommended that you make your hotel reservations now, we would advise against anything requiring pre-payment, both in hotels or flights, until our goal is met and we know the party will happen. As much as we all want this party to happen, it can only do so if the budgeted goal is met, and we just don’t want you to risk your hard earned money on non-refundable travel purchases. So reserve a hotel, but think long and hard before booking non-refundable flights.

Thirdly, as the Travel Agent on staff, all the hotels and motels listed below I have either stayed in, toured, had friends stay in or I have met the sales representatives and can recommend these to you. They vary in prices, and even the normally budget conscious properties may seem a little high, just know that Oscar weekend is a high occupancy weekend in Hollywood and the pricing reflects the demand.

Hollywood W Hotel

The Redbury Hollywood/

Hilton Garden Inn Hollywood

Holiday Inn Express Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Hotel Roosevelt

Orchid Suites Hollywood

Magic Castle Hotel in Hollywood

Blvd. Hotel and Suite, Hollywood

Best Western Hollywood Plaza Inn

One Last Party fundraiser passes $100,000 mark!

one last party logo Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo has just hit the $100K mark and we’re pretty stoked!

If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out.

Visit our campaign page to see how you can help — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies together!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe at TheOneRing.net want you all to join us in saying a proper ‘Fond Farewell’ and heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all the hard working Cast and Crew of all six of the Middle-earth films. There will be a giant ‘Thank You’ card at our planned “The One Last party: There and Back Again” event on February 21, 2015 in Hollywood. We’ve done this before, back at the Return of the One Party in 2004, so we know how to do big cards.

Now we know that not everyone can join us at ‘The One Last Party” so we have a special Perk on our Indiegogo campaign just for you. In fact, every single Perk level includes your name on the card, but we did create the lowest level Perk just for those who can’t attend, but would like to be included in this special ‘one of a kind’ Thank you greeting. The images here are from 2004, but they give you an idea of what to expect from this year’s Epic card. And for those who do attend the party, you will have the opportunity to personalize your greeting a little bit more at the party. This ‘Thank You’ card will either be given to, or sent down to New Zealand to be delivered to Peter Jackson.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

For the past decade and a half, Peter Jackson, his amazing cast and the equally amazing crew have handcrafted these magnificent cinematic representations of Middle-earth for all of us to enjoy. Along the way, we have created a vibrant fan community where we can be found chatting on the message boards, meeting up at theater Line Parties, attending conventions together, making pilgrimages to New Zealand, and attending Oscar parties. We are a very social fandom who celebrates both the creative and academic side of Middle-earth, where you can find people displaying amazing costume designs right next to people who can recite and translate all of Tolkien’s Elvish poetry, and each can call the other ‘friend’. So while we want to thank Peter and the rest of the cast and crew for making films we can all enjoy, we especially want to thank them for the much more important Fan Community that has been thriving in big cities and tiny little towns all around the world since 2001.

Please join us in sending out our thanks by supporting our campaign for The One Last Party: There and Back Again, or sharing it far and wide with all your friends and family. Let’s all enjoy each other’s company #OneLastTime.

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Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

one last party logo We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.

Visit our Indiegogo campaign page to grab your tickets and help make it happen — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies together!

Weta CaveWelcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week.  If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights.  Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most active discussions.  Watch this space as we spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards.  Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!

Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – December 21, 2014”

Ringfrodo The BBC’s Jane Ciabattari writes about the ’60s counter-culture influence of J.R.R. Tolkien. It seems a bit of a reach to call Tolkien a figurehead for the movement, but certainly his works struck a chord — and inspired — with people.

A couple of nitpicks and clarifications:

It’s Middle-earth not Middle Earth.

The note (which is from Letter #226) about the influence of the Somme on the Morannon scenes is incomplete. It reads in full: “The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns and Romans, as in The House of the Wolflings or The Roots of the Mountains.” Continue reading “Hobbits and hippies: Tolkien and the counterculture”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

J  R  R TolkienIn our latest Library feature, Tedoras takes up the vexed issue of Tolkien and allegory.

 


Majesty and simplicity: on Tolkien and allegory

by Tedoras

Tolkien’s disdain, and avowed desuetude, of allegory is widely known by most familiar with his writings. Snippets from essays, letters, and remarks all show the Professor rejecting the notion that allegory is employed in his mythology; instead, Tolkien directs readers to the difference between allegory and applicability. Continue reading “Majesty and simplicity: on Tolkien and allegory”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Saruman the White by John Howe.
Saruman by John Howe.
Christopher Lee has precisely one line in the recent trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, but his little cameo was an unsurprising winner with fans. And, apart from reinforcing that stuff is always better with Chris Lee (maybe Chris can do all the voices for BOTFA — that would be ace!), it also sparked a surprising amount of speculation about Saruman’s intentions in desiring to confront Sauron alone.

Now, we can’t say how the confrontation occurred in canon: we know little more than that the White Council put forth its strength, that Saruman played an important role, and that Sauron deliberately withdrew as he had anticipated and planned for the actions of the Wise. Had Sauron, in fact, already fled? It’s a legitimate interpretation of the texts. However, Tolkien’s writings are a lot more informative about when Saruman “left the path of wisdom”. In this feature, Tedoras examines what The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, and The Silmarillion have to tell us about Saruman’s fall.

 

Continue reading “When exactly did Saruman fall?”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.